Assassination of John F. Kennedy Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ===Trial of Clay Shaw=== {{Main|Trial of Clay Shaw}} [[File:Cartão de imigração de Clay LaVergne Shaw (frente) (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright=.85|alt=A portrait of Clay Shaw|[[Clay Shaw]] (pictured in 1951) was [[Trial of Clay Shaw|acquitted]] by the New Orleans jury after less than an hour of deliberation.]] On March 22, 1967, New Orleans District Attorney [[Jim Garrison]] arrested and charged New Orleans businessman [[Clay Shaw]] with conspiring to assassinate President Kennedy, with the help of Oswald, [[David Ferrie]], and others.<ref name="bug1347"/> A respected businessman who had helped renovate and preserve the [[French Quarter]],<ref name="bug1347"/> Shaw was described as "the unlikeliest villain since [[Oscar Wilde]]".<ref>[[#Bugliosi2007|Bugliosi (2007)]], p. 1348.</ref> Both Shaw and the neurotic, avidly anti-Castro Ferrie were members of [[LGBT history in Louisiana|New Orleans' gay community]].<ref>[[#Bugliosi2007|Bugliosi (2007)]], pp. 1348–1349.</ref> Ferrie died, possibly by suicide, four days after news of the investigation broke.<ref>[[#Bugliosi2007|Bugliosi (2007)]], pp. 1399, 1401.</ref> On ''[[The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson]]'' in 1968, Garrison first publicly alleged that Shaw and Ferrie had been part of a [[CIA Kennedy assassination conspiracy theory|larger CIA scheme]] to kill Kennedy and frame Oswald.<ref>[[#Bugliosi2007|Bugliosi (2007)]], p. 1349.</ref> In the 34-day trial conducted in 1969,<ref name="Bugliosi 2007">[[#Bugliosi2007|Bugliosi (2007)]], p. 1351.</ref> Garrison played the Zapruder film and argued that the backwards motion of Kennedy's head after the fatal shot was indicative of a shooter in front on the grassy knoll.<ref name="backandtotheleft">[[#Bugliosi2007|Bugliosi (2007)]], pp. 371, 504, 1349.</ref> After a brief deliberation, the jury found Shaw not guilty.<ref name="Bugliosi 2007"/> [[Mark Lane (author)|Mark Lane]] interviewed the jurors after the trial and stated that some believed that Shaw likely was involved in a conspiracy but that there was insufficient evidence to convict.<ref>[[#Lane|Lane (1991)]], p. 221.</ref><ref>[[#Davy|Davy (1999)]], p. 173.</ref> Lane's claims have been disputed by playwright [[James Kirkwood, Jr.|James Kirkwood]]—a personal friend of Clay Shaw—who said that he met several jurors who denied ever speaking to Lane.<ref>[[#Kirkwood|Kirkwood (1992)]], p. 510.</ref><ref>[[#Shawesq|Kirkwood (1968)]]</ref> Kirkwood also questioned Lane's claim that the jury believed that there was a conspiracy:<ref>[[#Kirkwood|Kirkwood (1992)]], p. 557.</ref> jury foreman Sidney Hebert told Kirkwood, "I didn't think too much of the Warren Report either until the trial. Now I think a lot more of it than I did before."<ref>[[#Kirkwood|Kirkwood (1992)]], p. 511.</ref> According to academic E. Jerald Ogg, the Shaw trial is now widely regarded as a "travesty of justice";<ref>[[#Ogg|Ogg (2004)]], p. 137.</ref> Kirkwood likened the trial to a [[Spanish Inquisition]] hearing.<ref>[[#Ogg|Ogg (2004)]], p. 139.</ref> Other observers have characterized the proceedings as relying on homophobia.<ref>[[#Evica|Evica (1992)]], p. 18.</ref> It remains the only trial to be brought for the Kennedy assassination.<ref name="bug1347">[[#Bugliosi2007|Bugliosi (2007)]], p. 1347.</ref> In 1979, former CIA director [[Richard Helms]] testified that Shaw had been a part-time contact of the [[CIA activities in the United States#1951|Domestic Contact Service]] of the CIA, through which Shaw volunteered information from his travels abroad, mostly to Latin America. However, according to [[Max Holland]], some 150,000 Americans were contacts.<ref name=Holland>[[#Holland|Holland (2001)]]</ref> In 1993, the PBS program ''[[Frontline (U.S. TV series)|Frontline]]'' obtained a group photograph that featured Ferrie and Oswald together at a 1955 cookout for the [[Civil Air Patrol]]: Ferrie had denied ever knowing Oswald.<ref name="frontline">[[#Frontline|"Who Was Lee Harvey Oswald". PBS.]]</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page